Earthquake in China

For those of you wondering about the recent earthquake in China and the welfare of our daughter…

I wrote to our agency this morning concerning her well-being.  The earthquake occurred in the southwest portion of the country very close to the region of Tibet.  Our daughter is in Ningxia which is very close to the northern central part of the country.  There has been no damage reported more than 800 km away from the epicenter of the earthquake which occurred in Yushu.  We were assured by the agency that all of their waiting children (those children who have already been referred to families here in the United States) are safe and well.

We will keep you posted if anything changes or when we get new information.

9 Weeks and Counting!

It’s been nine weeks since our Log In Date. We are hoping that we will receive our Letter of Acceptance sometime by the end of the month. In the mean time, we have been keeping busy around the house. There is so much to do- cleaning, packing, and organizing- that we have more than enough to keep our hands full!

We received updated pictures of our little girl! How much she has grown! I can’t wait to go to China to pick her up. She is the cutest little girl in the world! If you want to see pictures, send me an e-mail at tting5@aol.com and I will forward them to you.
Back to painting and cleaning!

Nesting

So this weekend I spent all day Sunday cleaning the house and “nesting”. I completed quite a few odd jobs that I have been meaning to get to but just never had the time. I painted the kitchen, placed thresholds on the outside doors (both the front door and the back door), we looked at over-the-stove microwaves, installed a new garbage disposal, put a new shower head on the guest bathroom (because I am sick of getting soaked when I wash my niece’s hair!), and did laundry and dishes. For a lazy Sunday, I was super busy!!

Chris says I am nesting BAD! At this rate, we are going to have a renovated house by the time Saiya gets here! I even packed her little back pack with clothes and books and stuff that we want to bring to China with us. This waiting is driving me CRAZY! I can only hope that we get our Letter of Acceptance soon!

Saiya's Quilt

So, I know I have been slacking lately, but here it is.  It is made with mostly left over fabric from other quilting projects from over the years.  There is fabric from a quilt I made for my sister, one that is currently on my bed in my room, and tons of fabric that has been left over from an assortment of crafting projects throughout the years.  One of the best parts about this quilt is all the memories and warmth you get from just looking at it and the mish-mosh of fabrics and colors.  The top and bottom both have a strip of sewn together "scrap" fabric that were left over pieces.  It came out so beautiful!

This year, I also made a similar quilt for the CAWLI chinese new year party  Auction as a donation to the Rainbow Fund (which helps provide education and job training programs for children who are in the orphanages in China).  I used some of the same fabrics (like the pandas and some of the strips of blue) to make that quilt too.  I love how things like this can create connections between people and places without them ever having the opportunity to meet.

It has been done for some time now, but I have finally managed to remember to take pictures of it.  Here they are!!  Enjoy!

Log-In-Date: 2/10/2010

I was notified by Meg on Friday that we officially have our Log-In-Date from China! Our log in date is 2/10/2010. So now we are waiting on our Letter of Acceptance before we can start making travel plans. We have up to 90 days from the date our dossier went to china (so about another two months) before we receive the Letter of Acceptance. At least we know the process is moving forward!

We are currently finalizing ideas where we want to go while we are in Hong Kong and figuring out what we will need while we are in China. I’m so excited I want to start packing! I’ve checked the weather in Ningxia and the climate seems to be fairly harsh and dry. I’m thinking we are going to need to pack plenty of jeans and lotion to keep our skin from drying out too badly.

My dad keeps telling me that the area where Saiya is coming from is mostly goat herders and farmers, I’m beginning to think that he’s right. I’ve spent a little bit of time doing research on the area and the main city (Yinchuan) is not that large and surrounded by farms and chicken factories. On the upside, the western end of the Great Wall borders the north eastern part of the city, so even though we will not get to see the great wall in Beijing, we will probably be able to see it while we are in Ningxia. That part of the Wall is probably very pretty because of the open countryside.

Now all we need is the Letter of Acceptance… One month and counting!

What's in a name: Part 2

Well, last night Chris and I sat on the couch and brainstormed for middle names. We each made a list and then crossed off names on each other’s list that we didn’t like. The names that were left all went into a big bucket and got mixed up.

Some of the names in the bucket were:
Elise
Adlae
Kiori
Zeva
Erin
Jordan
Wrenn
Kai

We each drew a card from the bucket blindly and then we decided between those two. So the two names we ultimately ended up choosing between were Erin and Jordan…

We both voted on Jordan! So finally, we have a name and can complete more paperwork that required her new American name.

Saiya Jordan Bonnett

I think it has a nice flow to it! Comments?

Xie Xie!!

A great big Xie Xie to everyone for such a wonderful party! We played games and had a wonderful meal that included Chinese food of all types and flavors! A special thank you to my sister and the grand-mothers-to-be as they worked hard to plan and coordinate the whole thing. We are so happy that everyone is just as excited as we are! I’m sure there is going to be a surplus of love and attention for our little girl. We are very lucky to have such wonderful family and friends.

With all our hearts, XIE XIE!

We have our second care package all boxed up and ready to be shipped to China. We have clothes, shoes, blankets, and all sorts of other things in there for little Saiya. At the party, we also created a very cute card with a Chinese dragon made out of hand prints from each family member. We attached pictures for her to look at with a translated tag labeling each picture. I’m so excited about this care package and can’t wait to send it! I should have it in the mail sometime this week, most likely on Friday.